It seems that the pressures put on the Palestinian factions to stop their operations against Israel have come from inside as well as outside the Palestinian lands. Following the Arab and Western condemnation of such operations, intellectuals in the Palestinian territories issued a statement calling for the halt of this form of resistance.
A similar call was made by the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat while the Israeli government was threatening to deport the families of those who carry out suicide operations outside the Palestinian lands.
On the other hand, another camp accused the Palestinian intellectuals of betrayal and surrender to the Israeli orders which are against the interests of the Palestinian people.
In his response to questions on these points, Hamas spokesman Abdul Aziz al Rantisi said, “all Palestinian factions including Hamas carry out Martyrdom operations and so the majority of the Palestinians advocate these operations.”
He added, “those who signed the statement do not in principle believe in armed resistance and have never participated in resistance either by stone throwing or carrying out Martyrdom operations. They do not at all believe in resistance.”
The Hamas top official added “the number of these people does not exceed 500 at the maximum and so they are next to nil compared to the vast majority of the Palestinian people who support the operations.”
Rantisi described those who signed the statement calling for the halt of suicide bombing operations against Israel as unknown and sideline people driven by Europe. “Their call is driven by the Euro while the Palestinian people’s call is driven by blood,” added Rantisi.
Responding to a question about the intention of Sharon’s government to deport the families of the Palestinian suicide bombers outside the Palestinian lands or to Gaza Strip, Rantisi said, “these people do not believe in law.
Their law is the law of jungle, terrorism and killing.
Sharon’s government might take actions against the families of the martyrs like what he did in past including the demolition of their houses.
In other words the families of the martyrs were at risk before as their houses were demolished and they were banned from travel in addition to other forms of actions against them. But when the martyr’s mother smiles when she bids farewell to her son, she does not think of what will happen to her. She thinks of something greater than that.
By sending her son to die as martyr she believes that the homeland is dearer than anything else. People who want freedom must suffer and this formula should be understood by the Palestinian people and act accordingly.”
Regarding the hints by Sharon’s government to send these people to Gaza, Rantisi said, “Gaza is a big prison because it has the highest population density in the world. 120 square kilometers of the total strip area of 350 square kilometers are occupied as Jewish settlements and the rest of the area is occupied by 1.2 million Palestinians. This is in addition to a narrow area surrounded by an electronic fence and therefore when the Israelis send the martyrs’ families to Gaza, they will be actually sending them to a big prison.”
Responding to a question on whether Hamas would discuss with the PA a mechanism for resistance other than the martyrdom operations in order to at least avoid the outside pressures on the PA, Rantisi said, “I am fully aware of the fact that the PA wouldn’t discuss any form of resistance because it has commitments to Oslo agreement that do not include resistance. We believe that the Martyrdom operations represent 90 percent of the whole resistance and therefore it won’t be easy to forfeit armed struggle while the enemy has the most advanced arsenal of weapons. (Albawaba.com)
